Since opening on July 3, the western comedy, in which Depp plays Tonto to Armie Hammer's masked man, has taken just over $119 million worldwide. Not so terrible you might think, but with a production budget estimated at $215 million – those train crashes don't come cheap – and a sizeable marketing spend, the film has little chance of making money for the studio. In fact, some estimates have already chalked it up as a loss to Disney of anywhere between $150 and $200 million.

Industry website Deadline chimed in with the observation that ''Johnny Depp's reps are in publicity overdrive following a week of bruising bad press when The Lone Ranger bombed and his star status was questioned''.

FoxNews claimed ''The flop of The Lone Ranger seems to be final proof that movie audiences have grown fatigued with Johnny Depp shoehorning his trademark character actor eccentricities into big budget tentpole films''.

Still, one hard-to-swallow result doesn't make a winter, and Depp's career has largely been bathed in sunshine until now. Nearly $8 billion in box office revenue over 40 movies - dating back to 1984's Nightmare On Elm Street - is a handy winning streak in anyone's language.

But look a little closer and things are a little less clear cut. What emerges with startling clarity is the degree to which his success has been inextricably tied to two factors: The Pirates of the Caribbean franchise and Tim Burton.

Just under half of Depp's career box office has come from the four Pirates movies. A little under one-third has come from the films he has made with Tim Burton (there are eight, ranging from the $1 billion commercial success of 2010's Alice in Wonderland to the critically lauded but loss-making Ed Wood from 1994). Word is Burton and Depp are set to reteam on a sequel to Alice, which should make the bankers happy, if not the critics.

Depp's work with Gore Verbinski has been even more lucrative, grossing more than $2.9 billion over five films, including The Lone Ranger, three of the four Pirates movies and the animated western Rango, in which Depp voiced the lily-livered lizard lead.

Clearly, loyalty has its rewards.

But take the combined efforts of Burton, Verbinski and the Pirates out of the mix and Depp is a somewhat less bankable proposition. His remaining 27 films have grossed just under $1.7 billion. That's an average of approximately $63 million per film, which is not exactly shabby – but well short of his career average of almost $200 million.

In the end, though, the only question that matters in Hollywood is this: do Johnny Depp movies still make money?

The invisibles of marketing and the long tail of post-theatrical life make it hard to say with certainty, but based purely on published box office figures and budgets the answer is a resounding yes – with some ominous warning signs. His last 10 movies have cost a total of $1.3 billion to make and have earned a total of $3.4 billion, but two of his last three (The Lone Ranger and The Rum Diaries) have clearly lost money, while Dark Shadows must be lineball at best.

It's unlikely Johnny Depp will be popping up at a Centrelink near you any time soon. But what with that huge settlement with ex Vanessa Paradis, the two kids to look after, and a bizarre personal damages case against him due to be heard next month, Cap'n Jack could hardly be blamed for thinking Pirates 5 – set for a 2015 shoot – can't set sail soon enough.

These polls are not scientific and reflect the opinion only of visitors who have chosen to participate.

154 comments

Probably be a good move for Depp to do some straight forward dramas playing a "normal" person with an American accent (which I'm sure he does quite convincingly). For mine, his eccentric characters are becoming a bit tedious... like some of his films. I watched a few of the Pirates films. Sure they looked good, but I kept thinking I was watching the same movie.

Commenter

Wyn

Location

Earth

Date and time

July 16, 2013, 3:28PM

i agree, i saw the lone ranger and thought i was watching a pirates of the caribbean movie just with different costumes. in saying that i did enjoy it and so did my 18 year old son.

Commenter

markymark

Location

sydney

Date and time

July 16, 2013, 4:20PM

He has bucketloads of money, so he is comfortable. This results in a lack of motivation to push himself. Happens to actors, singers, bands, etc

Commenter

vitas

Location

Date and time

July 16, 2013, 6:03PM

The guy can't act. Every single movie he plays the exact same character with funny hair and makeup. Edward Scissorhands, Dead Man, Pirates of the Caribbean, Alice In Wonderland, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, Sweeney Todd, The Lone Ranger... All the exact same character...

He's loathsome. Every character he plays brings to mind some creepy, tittering paedophile. Let's look forward with trepidation to his next "quirky" adventure with the highly original Tim Burton.

Commenter

Blimp

Location

Brisbane

Date and time

July 16, 2013, 8:58PM

"Forget about it."

Commenter

Pottymouth

Date and time

July 17, 2013, 6:42AM

Agreed, Depp needs to play a normal character. Too many collaborations with Burton and with Pirate films are robbing audiences of one of the most talented actors of our generation. He has purchased the rights to Shantaram, but due to the writers strike some time ago, the adaption of the book has been delayed and subsequently unlikely to be made anytime soon, let alone with Depp playing the lead character (Criminal/Heroin addict, escaped prisoner etc) which in my opinion he would have the plaudits from audiences and critics alike that he deserves for playing a real character and showing off his full range of acting talents.

Commenter

Oscarwaiting

Location

Melbourne

Date and time

July 17, 2013, 7:40AM

Naaa, I just think it's because the Lone Ranger was so long ago most parents hadn't even heard of it. They couldn't trade on the brand.

I think Depp's still got it.

And it's not easy to be able to criss cross over between G ratings and R.

Maybe that's caused some confusion.

Commenter

sarajane

Location

melbourne

Date and time

July 17, 2013, 8:59AM

While I had enjoyed Johnny Depp movies prior to Pirates, most of them were probably aimed at an older demographic than I. Pirates was the first time I really sat up and took notice of JD, I thoroughly enjoyed the original (and the next two really) and so went back and watched his older stuff as a young adult/adult and really enjoyed even his less successful projects. The best thing about Pirates was that it felt original, it was a swashbuckling adventure movie the likes of which had not been seen (or atleast appreciated) by the main Pirates audience. I looked at the trailer for Lone Ranger - I wanted to be excited about it - but all I was was Cptn Jack Sparrow with a bird on his head wandering the desert. It felt like it wanted to do what Pirates did for "pirate movies', reinvigorate the western genre for a younger audience who missed the classics. But with the formula for doing so seemingly similar to that of Pirates...it was a little hard to swallow.